Apple's iPhone continues to expand on its lead as the most popular smartphone in the U.S., taking more than 40 percent of the American market, according to new figures from Kantar.

The newest report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows the iPhone with a 43.4 percent share of the United States market for the three months ending in July. That represents a 7.8 percentage point increase over the same period from a year ago. The United States, according to Kantar's numbers, remains Apple's strongest market, though the iPhone saw identical growth in Great Britain, where it jumped 7.8 points year-over-year to take a 31.1 percent share.

Apple's year-over-year growth in the United States came almost entirely at the expense of Google's Android platform. Android, which still powers a majority of smartphones in the U.S., saw its share shrink by 7.6 points. Combined, the two platforms make up 94.5 of the smartphone market in the U.S.

Kantar's figures reflect the numbers regularly seen from American wireless carriers. Over the past several quarters, the iPhone has consistently proved the most popular handset at each of the United States' largest carriers. In the last quarter, the iPhone accounted for 51 percent of smartphone sales at Verizon, more than half at AT&T, a sizable portion of sales at Sprint, and 29 percent of T-Mobile's gross customer additions and upgrade smartphone sales.

Apple's iOS is solidly the second-most popular platform in every nation Kantar examined, save Mexico, where it lags both BlackBerry and Windows Phone. In every region examined, except for Germany and China, Apple grew its smartphone market share from July 2012 to July 2013, with the largest growth in the U.S. and Great Britain.

Kantar's report does not paint a rosy picture for any competing operating systems, though. In the U.S., ever-struggling BlackBerry lost another 0.6 percentage points, dropping to just 1.2 percent share. BlackBerry saw equally dismal numbers across the big five European markets, where it now holds only 2.4 percent share.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform saw an increase in share, but one of only 0.5 points. Europe, though, was more encouraging for the Redmond giant, which has famously struggled toward relevance in the mobile segment. In the big five E.U. nations, Windows Phone jumped from 4.9 to 8.2 percent share over the past year, higher share growth than any other platform saw over the same period in that region. In Germany and Great Britain, Microsoft's platform is approaching 10 percent, while in France it sits at 11 percent.

Microsoft's gains, though, have come in no small part due to the availability of low-cost Windows Phone devices, evidenced by the figure showing that 42 percent of Windows Phone sales over the past year came from consumers upgrading from a featurephone.

Apple, with its larger, more developed app library, could very well slow or reverse Windows Phone's momentum in some markets should it introduce a lower-cost model of its iPhone, as the company is expected to do next week. Previous analyses have speculated that Apple could address 65 percent of the smartphone market depending on the pricing and availability of just such a device.

Wow! However, outside of these countries, the trend is different. But does it matter that much? I seriously believe that worldwide it will only go up with the 5C.

Now imagine what would happen in the premium segment if Apple releases another iPhone line, with a bigger screen!

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Low cost Nokia smartphones running windows are just fantastic for the price. In fact, clearly the OS is slowing Nokia down on the high end. Great job Nokia, I hope the punch Apple gave you was enough! The Lumia 520 is a fantastic device for the price.

I don't understand this "I want a less portable phone" and "I want a shorter battery life" mentality. I just don't get it. If that's what you want, there are plenty of Android phones to choose from.

I don't understand wanting it ENOUGH to settle for the huge drawbacks of Android. But I do understand wanting it: different people have different priorities. I like my iPhone 5's size, but there's nothing wrong with wanting bigger.

A bigger screen is worse, yes. AND also better. Smaller phones outsell bigger ones despite the hype, but I too know people, even iOS users, who badly want a bigger screen. They're impressive at first glance even if the experience is poor when that excitement wears off. (Malware, lack of OS updates, bad battery life, lack of many quality apps we're spoiled by on iOS, lack of automatic clone-and-restore when you get a new device or warranty swap, etc. etc.)

For the ecosystem and developers (and thus, for having great apps) screen size fragmentation is a problem Apple should approach cautiously. But just as laptops got popular enough to sell in multiple sizes, and iPads too, it's time to offer iPhones in more than one size (and ditch the original 2:3 size). And OS fragmentation (including vendor overlays) is a worse problem for Android developers than screen size is. Screen size they can solve--OS fragmentation they cannot.

I don't believe it will happen until next year (maybe fall, maybe a separate release earlier) but a bigger iPhone IS coming.

In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if the iPhone 6 next year simply is bigger and only comes in that size; and therefore, one reason to have the iPhone C line is to keep offering a smaller phone. (Which need not be underpowered: the iPhone 5C does not seem to be "low end" by any measure--just mid-range and less pricey than the flagship.)

I also don't think it will be a ridiculous "phablet"--just a size up from the iPhone 5. They won't want to give up TOO much pocketability. And those big Android screens tend to be poor quality displays in many ways. Apple won't want to make that compromise either, and so going absurdly big might also get really expensive.

I must insist that iPhone market share will never gain ground on Android OS market share. Android OS is supposedly the finest OS in the world because it's the one that nearly everyone is using. It is called the poor man's OS because it was given for free from Google. iOS is a walled garden and everyone hates walled gardens. Besides, why buy an iPhone when you can buy a $50 Android smartphone that's just as good as the most expensive iPhone?

One more thing. The iPhone has a tiny display which they say is nearly unreadable. Most humans can only see text on a 4.7" display or larger. I believe it's a human deficiency to be unable to read anything on a 4" display. This is the main reason why pundits are saying the next iPhone will be a huge failure. Small displays mean small sales. Every Android vendor in the world has a large display smartphone and supposedly that's why Android has 80% of the global smartphone market. 80% of the world needs a smartphone with a larger display. Phablets are the new standard in smartphones.

Now imagine what would happen in the premium segment if Apple releases another iPhone line, with a bigger screen!

I think you need to look at Nintendo as a reference point of "do bigger screens without an increase in battery life drive better sales in the US", the answer is no, if the hardware is essentially the same.

I personally think a larger phone is a mistake, as the original phone's size and weight was the right size to be a phone. The "right size" for a phone that you talk on is the distance from your ear to your mouth, and not everyone's head is the same size and shape. The other sizes should have been iPod/iPad models that include the voice calling feature, but not marketed as a phone itself.

This is why we keep hearing about phablet (ugh what an awful term, makes me think "phat (as in fat)" tablet.) These are marketing people trying to push yet another device size for no other reason than seeing dollar signs.

The right sizes for a phone are 3" to 5", tablet/ebooks are 7-12". "people want a bigger phone" and "people want a smaller tablet" tell me that the original iphone and ipad sizes were in fact the right sizes to begin with, and in stead there is some segment of people who want a device that is both a phone and a tablet. eg, a PDA (Remember those? The largest models were 4" screens and 200g, while the ipad mini is double that weight (about 400g) and the iphone is half (112g) and both are 8 times the battery life as even the best PDA.)

There are really three market segments
- Phone (which primary function is to make phone calls and fit in your pocket, which is 3.5-4" models)
- Reader/Tablet (ebooks, 7"-10", and meant to be carried in a purse/messenger bag)
- Laptop (10-18", much larger battery, and full size keyboard)

If you need anything larger than a tablet, you want a laptop. If you want anything larger than an phone, you clearly don't want a phone. Apple would be better off enabling the phone functionality on the iPad models than fragmenting iOS with yet more screen sizes. We may see this with VoLTE, and not before, since extra parts are required to make voice calls on GSM or CDMA networks.

Being from Germany I'd guess it's mostly due to cost, as subscriptions for iPhones are on average higher than for Androids. Or put more precisely: You can get Android phones for much less than what you have to pay for an iPhone.

E.g., on T-Mobile you currently pay 350 EUR for a 32GB iPhone 5 with a 2 yr contract and 70 EUR/month for 750 MB/month, with LTE, and all nets flat.

Androids have the same rates, but very often just cost 1 EUR.

Not sure, if that's all.

I do pick up some hostility against apple here and there, coming from nerds, and Apple is considered a bit "suspicious" and still has to many that old stigma of "not compatible with windows" blablabla and being too restrictive. Could be, it's only the press, but that's the gist I often pick up here.

I must insist that iPhone market share will never gain ground on Android OS market share. Android OS is supposedly the finest OS in the world because it's the one that nearly everyone is using. It is called the poor man's OS because it was given for free from Google. iOS is a walled garden and everyone hates walled gardens. Besides, why buy an iPhone when you can buy a $50 Android smartphone that's just as good as the most expensive iPhone?

One more thing. The iPhone has a tiny display which they say is nearly unreadable. Most humans can only see text on a 4.7" display or larger. I believe it's a human deficiency to be unable to read anything on a 4" display. This is the main reason why pundits are saying the next iPhone will be a huge failure. Small displays mean small sales. Every Android vendor in the world has a large display smartphone and supposedly that's why Android has 80% of the global smartphone market. 80% of the world needs a smartphone with a larger display. Phablets are the new standard in smartphones.

"Being from Germany I'd guess it's mostly due to cost, as subscriptions for iPhones are on average higher than for Androids. Or put more precisely: You can get Android phones for much less than what you have to pay for an iPhone.

E.g., on T-Mobile you currently pay 350 EUR for a 32GB iPhone 5 with a 2 yr contract and 70 EUR/month for 750 MB/month, with LTE, and all nets flat.
Androids have the same rates, but very often just cost 1 EUR.

Not sure, if that's all.

I do pick up some hostility against apple here and there, coming from nerds, and Apple is considered a bit "suspicious" and still has to many that old stigma of "not compatible with windows" blablabla and being too restrictive. Could be, it's only the press, but that's the gist I often pick up here. "
Thanks : )

Have to say however that I don't see from your comment much a difference from here (Québec) about reasons (nerds, costs...) for not buying an iPhone. And I'm quite sure Apple doing better here than in Germany. Somewhat, still a mystery ; )

I must insist that iPhone market share will never gain ground on Android OS market share. Android OS is supposedly the finest OS in the world because it's the one that nearly everyone is using. It is called the poor man's OS because it was given for free from Google. iOS is a walled garden and everyone hates walled gardens. Besides, why buy an iPhone when you can buy a $50 Android smartphone that's just as good as the most expensive iPhone?

One more thing. The iPhone has a tiny display which they say is nearly unreadable. Most humans can only see text on a 4.7" display or larger. I believe it's a human deficiency to be unable to read anything on a 4" display. This is the main reason why pundits are saying the next iPhone will be a huge failure. Small displays mean small sales. Every Android vendor in the world has a large display smartphone and supposedly that's why Android has 80% of the global smartphone market. 80% of the world needs a smartphone with a larger display. Phablets are the new standard in smartphones.

/s

I just found this - it seems to apply to you and the other Google shills here:

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

The strength of Android in countries like Germany is due to Android devices selling unlocked for little money and the mobile pre-paid market being huge. With retailers equivalent to e.g. WalMart in the US selling Android devices unlocked and contract free for €99 to €199 it's tough to compete for the iPhone given it's unsubsidized price-tag; but it's also worth noting that many of these users upgrade from a feature phone to an Android device due to the marginal price difference; they are not hard-core smartphone users; although they might turn into such and at that point they may start being interested in the extra benefits the iPhone has to offer.
If Apple manages to position itself strongly in low-income nations like Turkey and Eastern Europe, sales in Germany will go up, because massive sections of the pre-paid mobile phone users are foreign workers from these countries in Germany.
Numbers like these without a much more detailed break down an relative strength based on market segments are meaningless because there are segments of the market served by Android devices that Apple neither serves nor intends to serve.

I will probable buy a 5c then upgrade to large iPhone whenever it comes available.

I know many who went Samsung just because of big screen want.

With 7 billion people in the world there will always be "many" who want something that you and a few people you know also want. However the major change that Jobs made upon taking control (in every sense of the word) of Apple was to reduce the plethora of objects that Apple manufactured. Apple's major advantage is that it's quality precluded the need for myriad variations. Apple has sort of married the mass production of the Ford motor car with the exclusivity of the Porsche, to be able to create a high quality well thought out product for the masses.

A phone is better off as a phone and not a hybrid phablet. Apple will never go down the 'big phone' route.

The strength of Android in countries like Germany is due to Android devices selling unlocked for little money and the mobile pre-paid market being huge. With retailers equivalent to e.g. WalMart in the US selling Android devices unlocked and contract free for €99 to €199 it's tough to compete for the iPhone given it's unsubsidized price-tag; but it's also worth noting that many of these users upgrade from a feature phone to an Android device due to the marginal price difference; they are not hard-core smartphone users; although they might turn into such and at that point they may start being interested in the extra benefits the iPhone has to offer.
If Apple manages to position itself strongly in low-income nations like Turkey and Eastern Europe, sales in Germany will go up, because massive sections of the pre-paid mobile phone users are foreign workers from these countries in Germany.
Numbers like these without a much more detailed break down an relative strength based on market segments are meaningless because there are segments of the market served by Android devices that Apple neither serves nor intends to serve.

Well, for one thing Germans are price conscious, very sensitive for "value for money" considerations and for another carrier subsidies are getting phased out, and then of course there's the typical problem of language and culture that american products just don't adapt well enough to the german language. There were also issues with the LTE which (the last time I looked into it specifically was only supported for the Apple hardware by Telekom, which is still suffering the backlash from its days as a state-run monopoly.

Things like Siri just are a pain in the butt in the germal language, with its wide range of dialects and accents. Very few people bother with features like this.

Just a few points. Finally, the "Made in USA" doesn't resonate with germans any more. There is a growing mistrust of the US in a wide spectrum of the community over here, largely because of the american attitude to privacy issues .... and of course the spying and seemingly boundless arrogance and stupidity of americans in the german view.

You laugh, but geeks are a really quirky and vocal submarket, and they think they speak for everyone.

In all the decades of consumer electronics, there's been a push for smaller and ever more portable and long lasting electronics. Like all those years when portable music meant Walkmans, the most expensive Sony Walkmans were the ones that were smallest and most feature-filled: the $300 cassette players that were barely larger than the cassette tape itself, whereas all the "bricks" were selling for $49. And before that, the transistor radio and portable stereos. We saw the same trend in cell phones during the 1990s and 2000s when the most expensive cell phones were consistently the smallest and thinnest. Cheap phones were big and heavy bricks. Same trend in PDAs: the thinnest Palm was the Palm V, and it cost more than the chunkier Palms. Same thing with laptops, where thin and light (before MacBook Air) models commanded premiums, like some of the earlier Sony VAIOs, just because they were unusually portable, not because they had the fastest chip or largest hard drives.

The geeks have decided that 5-inches is the right screen size, and they get really mad if you don't agree with them. Then they argue that anyone who disagrees with them will change their minds if Apple suddenly goes stupid and starts chasing Samsung and HTC and Motorola in the screen size wars. The iPhone 5 is a balancing act between screen size, portability (size and weight), and battery life. I think they struck the right balance, for the majority of people. I personally value portability and battery life more than the geeks. I'm not saying that Apple won't adjust these things in the future, but I trust them to not fall into the trap of oneupmanship in one area (screen size) while making compromises in other areas (weight, size and battery life).

Iphone is 22% up in USA & Europe5 (the saturated markets, remember?); 33% in GB, 36% in France, 110% in Spain. 180% in Mexico. In the year of the iphone5 "failure". Meh? I thought Apple was almost finished...
And BBRY, the Iphone killer according my broker, is selling 2/3 in USA and Italy; 1/3 in France, GB, EU5 and Mexico; 1/5 in Australia; less than 1/10 in Spain. In one year. Of what they made before the black beast of BB10. But wait, it does have higher marketshare in Germany by 33%, to a shocking...0.8%. Yeah, he is right, probably Apple IS doomed after all.

And just wait until the lower margin 5C hurts the company even more...

Are you really too stupid to understand the difference between making a mistake and backtracking?

Where did you admit to being wrong?

Quote:

Yes, I did. So the graphic I provided only applies to the real Google shills, not the fake one I responded to.

You claim that you saw the /s but your reply to the OP suggests that you in fact did not. I'm well versed in the art of backtracking so I know it when I see it.

Edit. I see that you indeed admitted to not seeing the /s but the correct thing to do was to edit your post accordingly especially since you accused the OP of being a shill.Edited by dasanman69 - 9/2/13 at 7:45pm

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" Mark Twain"Just because something is deemed the law doesn't make it just" - SolipsismX

After Apple's stylish marketing blitz the 5C and 5S will be the 2 top selling smartphones in the world bringing Apple's market share and mind share higher in places where this years iPhone lineup was too expensive.

I live in the United States but I spent a few months working in Basel, Switzerland. What I found was that with the smaller countries in Europe you spend a lot of time roaming and your data plan doesn't typically work when you do. My iPhone is wonderful in the US where I always have access to data. In Europe, I wouldn't consider it worth the money to spend more for a better phone since it's hamstrung by the service half the time.

Being able to use iMessage over WiFi, particularly using my Mac, offset the disadvantages to some degree as it let me communicate with anyone else in the world with an iPhone and vice versa but I believe that a similar service exists with Android and to similar effect.